Hero of Darkness

The very next day, 4 warships belonging to different clans arrive at Aesir, capital of the Verlassen fiefdom. Their destination being other than the main castle of the Sovereign. 

Woosh! Woosh! 

Extremely fast warships flew over the tall and enormous buildings of the capital and earned the interests of the normal citizens who heard them. 

After all four of the gigantic warships that could carry 20 thousand soldiers at once landed on the open grounds of Kahn's enormously large and wide estate, troops of thousands of covenant soldiers that were queued up at four different ends welcomed the arrival of these guests. 

Four differently colored warships with different sigils of their respective clans opened their main doors and four envoys of highly prestigious noble clans exited with a semi-saint in the center. 

All these people were Omega, Ronin, Jugram and Oliver at their respective ends and soon, a batch of flying magic vehicles arrived to pick them up and escort them to the main castle. 

These four individuals were other than Kassandra Mikealson of the Mikealson Clan, the runner-up of the Emperor's Chosen competition who belonged to Neutral Faction. 

Celine Armitage of Neutral Faction, who was nicknamed as the Dual Sword Saintess among the younger generation of top prodigies. 

Victor Apopis of the Demi-Human faction, the halfbreed demonkin who fought Kahn in the semifinals. 

And Ezekiel Nabi of the Pureblood faction. The young semi-saint mage whose nature was yet to be known by many. 

They were escorted to the main throne room where Kahn, the other semi-saints and all the 18 figureheads of the government and military were discussing things among themselves. 

Thud! Thud! Thud! 

The envoy of the semi-saints that were assisted with peak grandmasters as their allies walked in towards the end of this 500 meters long throne hall where the most important matters of the entire Verlassen fiefdom were discussed by the new ruling sovereign. 

Amidst Kassandra's envoy… was a young blonde knight and a redhead peak grandmaster swordsmaiden. These were her cousins, namely Isaac and Veronica Mikealson. The latter being another opponent Kahn had fought against during the competition. 

"Apologies for not being able to receive you myself. I was busy with important matters." spoke Kahn who was seated on his grand black and golden throne. 

He was soon surrounded by the four subordinates and the five semi-saint commanders who were also seated on their respective luxurious chairs. 

Just then, Kahn sensed two malicious auras from the four envoys present in the throne hall. 

His eyes then gazed at two halfbreed demonkins among the group. One was a white-haired female with one long and one short red horn. On the waist of her black and red armor were two glimmering red swords. 

The female was Celine Armitage while the other individual was Victor Apopis. 

"What kind of lame and uneventful welcome is this? 

As a host, you should be more willing to create time for us. 

We better see a grand welcoming ceremony for our welcome at night." spoke Victor, the semi-saint scythe user who once fought Kahn in front of the whole empire. 

The next moment, the entire atmosphere of the room turned ghastly and not just Kahn's generals but the two commanders who pledged their loyalty to Kahn months ago also had an angry expression instantly. 

But before they could even speak, Kahn raised his left hand and signaled them to keep quiet. 

"Are you here for a vacation or something? The last time I checked, you were here to serve as trainees and backup for the military outposts. 

So why should there be any grand welcome ceremony or a banquet held for you?" asked Kahn in a sarcastic tone. 

BOOM!! 

The next second, both of them released their aura of semi-saints as Kahn openly berated them for having such foolish notions. 

"Know your place! Who do you think you're talking to? I guess your parents didn't teach you any manners. Well, what's there to expect from a nameless orphan." mocked Celine in a contemptuous tone. 

BOOM!!

However the next moment, two more deathly auras erupted from both sides of the room. 

These didn't belong to Kahn or his generals but both Commander Stark and Commander Mormont who revealed their killing intent on both halfbreed demonkins. 

Both of them were stronger semi-saints than these two brats and since neither of them didn't belong to any of the noble factions… they weren't afraid of provoking these overly prideful young heirs. 

The next person to speak was other than Ezekiel Nabi, the human mage prodigy who was 3 years older than Kahn. 

"I don't care if you're the new sovereign or something. Just don't be under the assumption that you're better than us because you won that competition." spoke the semi-saint mage. 

There was no pride or malice in his tone. Just that he felt like he was being looked down on here by Kahn. And he certainly didn't find it appealing. 

After his words, Kahn then turned his gaze to Kassandra, the Raven Sorceress and the one he thought as the true number one prodigy of the empire. 

He raised an eyebrow and locked his gaze with her… as if asking 'You want to say something too?'. 

Kassandra, who looked as charming as the day she fought Kahn in the finals suddenly averted her gaze as if she wanted to say.. 

'I don't know these people.' 

Kahn sighed deeply and rested his face on his right palm as he felt entertaining a bunch of little kids. 

[Ah, these brats… Who the fuck raised these morons? They're acting all special and overbearing right in front of the one guy who can beat their ass. 

Do they skip teaching 'Common Sense' in those three factions and noble clans?] questioned Kahn to himself. 

Other than Kassandra, the three young semi-saints seemed like they hadn't grasped the situation properly even now and acted like they visited the house of one of their lackeys or vassals. 

BOOOOOMMMM!!! 

An ear-deafening burst of black and red aura suddenly filled the entire hall as dark fog mixed with this extremely terrifying pressure quickly froze the three young semi-saints. 

This aura was so dense and oppressive that it was equivalent to the aura of a legitimate first stage saint. 

"Looks like you still don't get it…" said Kahn with all his killing intent released on the three who released their aura on him together. 

Then he spoke in a grim and tyrannical voice that sent shivers in their spines… 

"I AM BETTER THAN YOU."